ITHACA, N.Y. -- Stephen F. Hamilton, professor of human development and co-director of Cornell University's Family Life Development Center, has been named associate provost for outreach, Provost Biddy Martin announced Nov. 5.

Hamilton was appointed to a three-year term beginning Nov. 1. The new part-time position of associate provost for outreach was recommended by the university's Land Grant Mission Review Task Force last spring, a year after five panels began reviewing Cornell's land-grant mission. The part-time position will allow Hamilton to continue his other academic responsibilities.

"I am pleased that a number of faculty members were interested in the associate provost position," Martin said, "and I am particularly pleased that Steve Hamilton has accepted the appointment. He brings a wealth of experience and strong scholarly commitment to outreach and associated issues, as well as a broad view of the involvement in outreach across the university."

Hamilton will report to Francille Firebaugh, vice provost for land-grant affairs and special assistant to the president.

"Steve knows Cornell as both a research institution and a land-grant university with experience in outreach and research in adolescent development and education," Firebaugh said. "He also has a long association with Cornell Cooperative Extension, which provides a strong background for encouraging interdisciplinary work and serving as an advocate for outreach."

As associate provost for outreach, Hamilton will be responsible for facilitating exchange and collaboration among faculty committed to outreach, extension and public service; expanding and extending new models for outreach; increasing universitywide recognition of outreach; promoting and facilitating evaluation of outreach and encouraging the highest standards in outreach and extension; facilitating access to Cornell's resources in conjunction with other university offices; seeking external support for outreach and extension; and developing new mechanisms for communications between external stakeholders and the campus. Initially, Firebaugh said, Hamilton will be working on advancing the role and commitment of Cornell to K-12 education, particularly in science, technology, engineering and math.

"Students, faculty and staff have energy and expertise to share with Cornell's local, state, national and global communities," Hamilton said. "Collecting and focusing this rich resource will require careful attention to how a university can most productively contribute to and learn from participation in public issues."

Hamilton joined Cornell in 1974 as a Cornell Cooperative Extension associate, responsible for extension's 4-H programs involving youth in their communities. He became a full professor in 1992 and was named co-director of the Family Life Development Center in 1999. He has served as department chair and chair of the Faculty Committee on Program Review.

His research investigates adolescent development and education, with an emphasis on the interactive influences of school, community and work on the transition to adulthood. As a Fulbright senior research fellow, he spent a year studying Germany's apprenticeship system. The book that resulted, Apprenticeship for Adulthood: Preparing Youth for the Future, received the first biennial Social Policy Award from the Society for Research on Adolescence in 1990. His most recent book, co-edited with his wife and colleague, Mary Agnes Hamilton, The Youth Development Handbook: Coming of Age in American Communities , grew out of a seminar he led for graduate students and faculty. It is aimed at conveying current theory and research to professionals who work with youth.

Hamilton received his bachelor of arts degree from Swarthmore College in 1967, his master of arts degree in teaching from Harvard University in 1969 and his doctorate in education from Harvard in 1975.